Wilderness Areas

Cadiz Dunes Wilderness

Wilderness areas are places of solitude where people can experience freedom from our fast-paced industrialized society. They are places where people can renew the human spirit through association with the natural world. For all its uses, values, and scenic wonders, wilderness is a land heritage that is uniquely American. Wilderness is a natural preserve with outstanding opportunities for solitude and unconfined primitive experience. A place to enjoy where ecological, geological and other features of scientific, scenic, educational and historical value are protected and their character retained.

The California Desert Protection Act of 1994 is one of the largest pieces of wilderness legislation ever passed by Congress. The act preserves the unrivaled values which portray the Old West and remain essentially unaltered by human activity. The Needles Field Office manages eighteen wilderness areas totaling more than 1.3 million acres. Each area with its own specific wonders offers and unparalleled opportunity to explore the Mojave Desert while camping, hunting, hiking or on horseback. Step back in time and experience the Mojave Desert unchanged my man.